1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an unmanned monitoring system and a monitoring method using an omni-directional camera. More particularly, the present invention relates to an unmanned monitoring system and a monitoring method for performing 360° unmanned monitoring work using one omni-directional camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
As modern society has rapidly developed and become more complex, there is a need to protect and monitor human and/or technology resources. In this regard, a security and monitoring system plays an important role. Performance of the security and monitoring system depends on the automation level and quality of images obtained from the system. For instance, the security and monitoring system is increasingly utilized in various fields, such as entrances of offices or companies, public hallways in financial agencies, and crossroads. In addition, the monitoring system is used for obtaining images or pictures to be used as evidence.
Recently, various technologies have been developed for monitoring systems. One is a monitoring system equipped with an omni-directional camera, called a “panoramic visual surveillance system”. Different from other monitoring systems, the panoramic visual surveillance system can obtain panoramic videos from all directions by using the omni-directional camera, so that it is easy to automatically trace or detect moving objects.
A monitoring system equipped with one omni-directional camera and a plurality of active cameras has been provided. This monitoring system traces the moving object in all directions using the omni-directional camera and monitors the moving object by simultaneously controlling the active cameras having pan, tilt and zoom functions.
However, the above panoramic visual surveillance system must convert the circular 360° image of the omni-directional camera into the linear panoramic image so as to allow a user to easily detect the moving object based on the linear panoramic image. That is, the circular 360° image as shown in FIG. 1A is converted into the linear panoramic image as shown in FIG. 1B. In order to convert the circular image into the linear panoramic image, coordinate conversion of the image must be performed several times. The coordinate conversion requires high precision, and a relatively long processing time to compensate for parts not having pixels when producing the linear panoramic image, which causes low resolution and degradation of monitoring performance.
In the case of the monitoring system equipped with one omni-directional camera and a plurality of active cameras, as shown in FIG. 2, it is necessary to install pan and tilt cameras 20, 30 and 40 in addition to the omni-directional camera 10 and to provide software in order to control the above cameras. Thus, the monitoring system is inefficient in view of power consumption and software when it is installed in equipment having a low storage capacity, such as a robot.
The conventional panoramic visual surveillance system requires relatively long software processing time when it is applied to a large monitoring region, causes low resolution and degradation of performance. The conventional monitoring system equipped with one omni-directional camera and a plurality of active cameras is inefficient for automatically detecting and tracing a moving object or an intruder in a predetermined region.